IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 355 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2015 

Ms. PELOSI submitted the following resolution 

JULY 9, 2015 

By motion of the House, referred to the Committee on House Administration 

RESOLUTION 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

Whereas, at 4 p.m. today, July 9th, the Governor of South 

Carolina will sign legislation to remove the display of the 

Confederate battle flag; 

Whereas, on December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the 

first State to secede from the Union; 

Whereas, on January 9, 1861, Mississippi seceded from the 

Union, stating in its ‘‘Declaration of Immediate Causes’’ 

that ‘‘[o]ur position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the 

world.’’; 

Whereas, on February 9, 1861, the Confederate States of 

America was formed with a group of 11 States as a purVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Jul 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR355.RTH HR355

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HRES 355 RTH 

ported sovereign nation and with Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as its president; 

Whereas, on March 11, 1861, the Confederate States of 

America adopted its own constitution; 

Whereas, on April 12, 1861, the Confederate States of America fired shots upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South 

Carolina, effectively beginning the Civil War; 

Whereas the United States did not recognize the Confederate 

States of America as a sovereign nation, but rather as a 

rebel insurrection, and took to military battle to bring the 

rogue States back into the Union; 

Whereas, on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court 

House in Virginia, effectively, ending the Civil War and 

preserving the Union; 

Whereas during the Civil War, the Confederate States of 

America used the Navy Jack, Battle Flag, and other imagery as symbols of the Confederate armed forces; 

Whereas since the end of the Civil War, the Navy Jack, Confederate battle flag, and other imagery of the Confederacy have been appropriated by groups as symbols of 

hate, terror, intolerance, and as supportive of the institution of slavery; 

Whereas groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other White 

supremacist groups utilize Confederate imagery to frighten, terrorize, and cause harm to groups of people toward 

whom they have hateful intent, including African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Jewish Americans; 

Whereas many State and Federal political leaders, including 

United States Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, 

along with Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn and 


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HRES 355 RTH 

other State leaders, have spoken out and advocated for 

the removal of the imagery of the Confederacy on Mississippi’s State flag; 

Whereas many Members of Congress, including Speaker John 

Boehner, support the removal of the Confederate flag 

from the grounds of South Carolina’s capitol; 

Whereas Speaker John Boehner released a statement on the 

issue saying, ‘‘I commend Governor Nikki Haley and 

other South Carolina leaders in their effort to remove the 

Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds. In his second 

inaugural address 150 years ago, and a month before his 

assassination, President Abraham Lincoln ended his 

speech with these powerful words, which are as meaningful today as when they were spoken on the East Front 

of the Capitol on March 4, 1865: ‘With malice toward 

none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as 

God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish 

the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to 

care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his 

widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and 

cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and 

with all nations.’ ’’; 

Whereas the House of Representatives has several State flags 

with imagery of the Confederacy throughout its main 

structures and House office buildings; 

Whereas it is an uncontroverted fact that symbols of the Confederacy offend and insult many members of the general 

public who use the hallways of Congress each day; 

Whereas Congress has never permanently recognized in its 

hallways the symbols of sovereign nations with whom it 


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HRES 355 RTH 

has gone to war or rogue entities such as the Confederate 

States of America; 

Whereas continuing to display a symbol of hatred, oppression, 

and insurrection that nearly tore our Union apart and 

that is known to offend many groups throughout the 

country would irreparably damage the reputation of this 

august institution and offend the very dignity of the 

House of Representatives; and 

Whereas this impairment of the dignity of the House and its 

Members constitutes a violation under rule IX of the 

Rules of the House of Representatives of the One Hundred Fourteenth Congress: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Speaker of the House of Rep2 resentatives shall remove any State flag containing any 

3 portion of the Confederate battle flag, other than a flag 

4 displayed by the office of a Member of the House, from 

5 any area within the House wing of the Capitol or any 

6 House office building, and shall donate any such flag to 

7 the Library of Congress. 

Æ 


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